Whispers through the Wall
by ASBusinessMagnet
Summary: Rosalind Lutece realizes her lifelong dream of spending time on innovations of physics. In addition, she ends up finding her true love through these innovations. "Sequel" to The First Communication, but if you know the plot of BioShock Infinite, you should be able to figure out what's going on.
1. Comstock

Rosalind Lutece was definitely not a poet by profession, but the evidence that she had in her hands might just have made her reconsider.

The evidence in question was a sheet of paper, noting all the messages that our quantum physicist had found recorded within the Lutece particle, as well as all the messages that she sent back to her recipient, someone apparently going by the name of Robert Lutece. Robert was apparently a scientist just like Rosalind and their attitudes towards each other were shared, but their general ideas, especially those concerining the invention, differed.

Rosalind noticed that she was far more concerned about the long-term effects of using the particle for greater good. Even though the whole idea of a city in the skies was still a pipe dream, she refused to let go of the idea. On the other hand, Robert was much more interested in pushing the invention to its limits. He had already noted that the device allowed for a transfer of ideas between the two universes, and he was already frantically searching for a way to transfer actual physical objects, as if a tear had been made in both the continuums.

Rosalind was wary about the whole idea of a "Lutece Tear", as she would have called the occurrence had her brother actually managed it. Though, she didn't even believe that there could be another Earth before she met her supposed "brother", and that was one of many ways in which he changed her.

The most distinctive part of the messages, though, was their personality. Neither Robert nor Rosalind were keen on transmitting entire essays through the medium between the two realities, so they had to agonize over how to deliver each message so it could carry as much meaning as possible in a limited amount of time, and therefore, dots and dashes. In the long term, this ended up developing into a distinct manner of speech in which both the conversational partners would attempt to finish each other's thoughts. At first it was hard, but quickly enough, both of them had gotten a hang of the concept.

Pondering these thoughts, Rosalind suddenly heard the doorbell to the Lutece Laboratory ring, and quickly remembered the most troubling development. She had already confirmed that no such person as Robert was known to any of her colleagues, and if anyone had noticed this apparent dialogue between him and her, they would begin supposing that she has an imaginary friend, and therefore she would immediately lose her reputation. Therefore, before answering the call, she made sure to bury the paper in the copious amount of notes about the Lutece particle that she had produced.

Having finally sorted her deals, Rosalind could now answer the call. The person that she saw, once she opened the inner doors, looked middle-aged, but was also strangely young and charismatic. She could tell that he had a vision, and he had just enough of the youthful ambition and just enough of the intelligence of the ages to realize it. One could only presume from his attire that he was also some sort of aspiring influential figure.

Likewise, the words that he spoke were also reinforcing Rosalind's convictions. The man simply said: "I come here to assist you for our both's greater good." and that was enough for Rosalind to know that this all was true.

Though, she immediately remembered that there was a more important manner at hand. "Actually, shouldn't we begin with our names?"

The man only answered: "But then again, your name is already known across all of New York, isn't it, Lutece?"

"You're avoiding the matter." Rosalind pointed out.

The man fixed his posture and finally replied: "Ah, yes, I apologize. Zachary Hale Comstock, nice to meet you."

"So, what leads you here?" With each word, Rosalind was more and more interested in her guest and how he could turn her life in a completely different direction.

"When the Archangel came down to me," Comstock began in his typical fashion, "she showed me a vision of a city in the sky, far away from the Sodom below. It will be our salvation, she said."

Only now, Rosalind began to be aware of the fact that the man's speeches did not make sense to a typical person at all. "What does that give?" she could only mutter out.

"She then directed me to what she called the greatest mind in the world. She said that with this woman's help, I would be able to make the heaven into a reality."

Rosalind stared at Comstock in shock of the realization. "The Lutece particle. Listen, and you're here to fund the project, I presume?"

"You got it, dear sweet Rosalind." The student still didn't like the idea that Comstock was essentially hitting on her, and therefore she simply said "I'll take that into consideration, now return to me when you actually have the money." and waited for the man to leave.

He took his steps very slowly, as if he was pretending to be much older than he really was, leading Rosalind to watch a bit depressingly. She still didn't understand what the deal with him was, but he was the one who finally gave her the opportunity, and she was sure to listen to the prophecy, no matter how much she despised the idea that she could know her own destiny.

Perhaps it was just another obstacle to overcome, just as the idea that there are alternate Earths. As communication across this... _fifth_ dimension was possible, the idea that the fourth dimension of time could also be crossed just as the three spatial dimensions wasn't _that_ unreasonable. Rosalind just needed to shake the entire foundation of the thoughts of the scientists, and anything could be possible.

Speaking of communication across the fifth dimension, it seemed that Robert had sent yet another message. Rosalind dug out the paper in which the dialogue was written and noted the latest message that was encoded. At this point, she was already adept at decoding Morse code, and she simply waited for the forward slash, when she could begin writing:

"Still, there isn't anything that disproves the quantum tear's existence?"

Without hesitation, Rosalind knew how to respond. She wasn't a poet by profession, but the occurrences of her with Robert had her already in her mind, as she was digging through her mind and knowing what should have been said - nay, _had_ to be said. It would affect Robert profoundly, as the whole idea of meeting Rosalind had.

Therefore, the quantum physicist began writing onto the customized telegraph:

"With the extra funding and the opportunity that was provided, we might just figure out."

* * *

_"Today, a man showed up. He didn't seem like anyone else, and he didn't act like anyone else. He offered to fund extraneous research into the Lutece particle and possibly realize the dream that we both had. There is nothing to stop us now, as the universe is our playground." - Rosalind Lutece, 1893_


	2. Opening

The people around New York had already collectively noted that Rosalind Lutece barely left her laboratory, and were now wondering what she was up to, placing strange-looking devices onto the foundation of the house.

Rumors had begun spreading that she had some sort of affair with Comstock, as he kept returning to the building. From the politician's "visions", they could also gather that there was some sort of floating city under construction. Little did they know, though, that the actual truth surpassed their wildest expectations.

It couldn't be explained to them immediately, though. Since the beginning of the history of physics, the equations used got more and more complex with the culmination of Maxwell's equations in 1862. It was crazy that _this_ thing was what described reality, and no one in their right mind would have believed it. But there it was; scientific truth, proven by people long before Rosalind (or Robert), accepted and used as the telegraph and radio communications were developed.**_  
_**

If anyone in the street had been asked, "could there be an alternate Earth with only one different thing: that you were born the opposite gender?" they would have immediately dismissed it as something a science fiction author would write, but not something actually worth considering. And yet, for Rosalind Lutece, the answer was a very clear "yes", as the experimental evidence from the Lutece particle had very clearly shown, and if you were to suggest otherwise, she would laugh in your face the way anyone would laugh if someone in the street proclaimed that two and two makes five.

Unfortunately, Rosalind and her "brother" Robert had come to learn one more thing: in Robert's universe, either Comstock wasn't as prevalent a figure as he was in Rosalind's, or he didn't exist at all. That meant that, if the crazy idea of "Columbia" that Rosalind's Comstock had ever came to fruition, that would very likely mean that this would be the end of their contact.

_Unless..._

Even though Rosalind was already accustomed to Robert's way of thinking about how the Lutece tear could exist, she still viewed the idea as not worth risking. However, the idea that she would be separated from her very possible best friend - even love interest, if Rosalind had thought of anything that crazy - for pretty much forever was even more foreboding. For this one time, she had to try.

After mounting the last particle that would allow the building to stay afloat, Rosalind went back to the laboratory to set up an entirely different experiment, just for the sake of her and Robert staying together... forever.

* * *

Unfortunately, opening a Lutece tear was easier said than done.

Such counter-intuitive solutions were to be expected from science. After all, the discovery of electromagnetic induction also took years to actually be discovered, because someone had to realize that a _moving_ magnetic field creates an electric current. But these times were long past; electricity was now well-understood, and the only obstacle to its popularity was actual appliances.

But the fact remained that the solution to opening a tear kept eluding the two alternate Luteces. The tears always seemed to either close too quickly or be too small, and the deadline for completing Columbia for the world fair (most buildings were already up, save for the science exhibit which was to be the Lutece Laboratory itself) was fast approaching so they had to progress like electricity itself.

On top of that, there was the whole ethical issue. People like Comstock, if they ever knew that there was another Earth, would try to exploit it for natural resources. The result would be an eternal inter-Earth war in which billions - no, _trillions_ \- would die because they couldn't agree with themselves. No, this particular invention would have to remain within universities as a "neat little thing" that was never to be developed seriously.

_Oh, speak of the devil..._

As Rosalind was thinking to herself, trying to figure out what went wrong with the tear device _this_ time, Comstock came in, and this time he didn't look too happy. He didn't stop at the counter as he usually did, instead progressing through straight to the tear device, just as another tear was about to open. As it opened, he was struck by a lightning-like bolt and passed out.

* * *

When he came back to consciousness, he immediately began giving Rosalind directions. He mentioned a man named Booker DeWitt, who was seemingly from Robert's universe, and that his child was to be Comstock's, as he himself turned out to be sterile. The vision that he had, just before he passed out, confirmed this, as Columbia was not to survive without a human heir. Rosalind thus relayed this information to Robert as she hospitalized Comstock and helped him with what she could.

Robert came back very soon. It turned out that at the moment, Booker and Robert were involved in a gambling deal, and Booker was so much in debt that he, in a fit of drunkness, was willing to give away his own daughter, someone named Anna. Even though this message was concise, from the vision of various tears Rosalind could gather the rest of the story: as he sobered up, Booker retracted his deal, but the prophecy was to be completed.

As Rosalind was tending to Comstock, who, after several hours, seemed to finally be in better shape, though, she hit something. It seemed to be the tear device, and surely enough, without entirely knowing what she was doing, she actually opened a human-sized tear. It looked like a hole with glowing white edges, and it seemed to open to behind the building. As shown by the flashing of the other particle, Robert had trouble locating the tear, and she had to drop a quick message to him: "Behind the building. I believe time is running short."

Still guided by his visions, Comstock stepped through the tear. Rosalind noted that there seemed to be no immediate side-effects to his presence on the other side of the tear, but soon had no time for the thoughts as she saw one of the most beautiful sights.

The man looked as close to Rosalind as a man of the time could look like. She was immediately caught off-guard by the freckled face, and only after a while she could bring herself to look at how her alternate gave the baby to Comstock.

Shortly after that happened, though, Robert noticed someone to the side of the tear, out of sight for Rosalind.

"Booker."

At another time, Rosalind would have thought that this whole "communication by voice" between her and him was quite novel, but she didn't have time as everything just happened too fast. Booker came, wanting his daughter back, Rosalind noticed that even this time, the tear was unstable, Robert, Comstock and the baby made it through and as the tear closed, Booker was left behind. Then, stuff started exploding on Rosalind's end as the device acted as if the tear was still there, and everything went dark as electricity had been cut off for the laboratory.

* * *

It was only after a while when Rosalind herself came to her senses and started remembering. She had come to realize that Booker _was_ Comstock, and that getting his baby would be the only legitimate way of getting Comstock, a sterile man, an heir.

But she remembered something else. There was a grown woman, who apparently had powers over the tears, and she seemed to be guiding someone through memories, as if she was the one who orchestrated everything.

"Elizabeth," Rosalind whispered as she looked around, seeing Comstock tending to the baby as if she was his. Robert hadn't recovered at all, and seemed to be bleeding from his nose.

The baby laughed when she heard the name, and thus Comstock decided that that's what he was going to call her.

It wasn't part of a prophecy, but it sounded like it should have.

The only thing left to do now was to send this laboratory into the air and be done with everything.

* * *

_"Bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt." - Robert Lutece, 1893_

* * *

_Author's idiotisms: Can the revival of the Lutecest fandom wait a bit? I'm certainly not in the mood to deal with anything.  
_


End file.
